[Fini] Swallowed By The Night [Kiki/Shini]

[Vyn]

Talking with Se had cleared her head. Not much, sadly, but enough that she was able to function moderately once more. It got her back up on her hooves and working on her experiments again. At least, that's what she did during the day. When night fell, Xylia followed a different line of experiments.

She was determined to unravel every secret those awful Bracers held. They had changed her into...this and she wasn't about to sit politely and ignore it. There had to be some good to this outcome, a silver lining to this storm cloud. After all, what great scientist was it that had said "there is not such thing as a failed experiment, only an unexpected outcome"?

This was definitely an unexpected outcome, but it just opened up a new avenue of experiments. On the physical level, she was aware of many things, but other than that she still had a good many nights to go. Without the Bracers, as Se had proved, little changed despite the fact that she was hard to see. So what about with the Bracers?

Another night, another test.

Xylia was hurrying along the street, heading for the park where she would have both quiet and solitude to work on her experiments, when she would come upon another. The doe halted abruptly, realizing briefly that her hooves had made no sound upon the cobblestones but predominantly thinking about the feline she had stumbled upon. The poor girl seemed to be quite distressed. In fact, Xylia would have to say she more accurately appeared to be quite lost.

Xylia shifted awkwardly. She didn't want to announce her presence, even she was aware that she was not entirely 'herself' right now, but she was no so far from her usual self that she failed to recognize someone in need of help when she saw it. Oh damn it all! Taking a deep breath, Xylia moved forward.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you lost?"


Unbeknownst to Xylia, what the feline would see when she spotted the doe was not what Xylia thought. Not only was she near impossible to see, but when the feline looked over Xylia's edges would waver and she would, it seemed, blurred away into the night. In fact, it would be very accurate to say that she appeared to disappear or might not have even been visible to begin with.

[Kiki]

Dilis was super excited to have her Jack Rank however she noticed that Anoushka seemed to be taking advantage. She was basically the Court lacky now and every other day Anoushka would send her on an errand. She had been so tired from all the running around today that she decided it might just be easier to find a place to stay. She had never had the pleasure of trying to find an inn at night but tonight she would find out just how difficult it was.

"Now... I could have swore there was one down from Gale's shoppe...No, that cannot be right." She looked around to find that no one was out for her to ask for direction and she sighed in disappointment.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you lost?"

Dilis jumped at the voice and looked around the find the owner... only to find there was none. She just had seen the darkness around her and that had frightened her enough. "He-he-hello? Is someone there?" She had managed in her terror, she could not fight and she had no weapons so if it were someone to hurt her all she could do was flee.

[Vyn]

Was someone there?

Of course someone was there! Her coat was dark, yes, but she wasn't invisible she couldn't be invisible. Could she?! Her body tensed and her eyes widened with panic before she rushed closer. Xylia needed to be recognized, needed to exist. Her suit had been reassigned already, she couldn't possibly be disappearing now as well!

She stamped her hoof in frustration once she drew closer to the still panicked feline...only to realize that the hoof had made no sound at all. Xylia did so again, none again.

The bracers!

The doe cursed roughly in her head as she struggled with the emerald studded bracers and quickly managed to remove the troublesome artifacts. When they had been fully removed Xylia's image solidified at last and she would become visible to Dilis. Not very well, but at least visible.

"Sorry about that. For the scare and all..." Her own voice was quivering and the stumbling of her words proved a fear of her own. "I forget that my coat makes me quite hard to see at night."

That was an understatement to the situation but she was trying to be friendly, not terrify the girl.

[Kiki]

Dilis was just about to use her ability to form a door from the wood lying nearby when a form began to appear. She could finally see that a cute little doe had been talking to her.

"It is quite alright, it is not your fault" Dilis smiled sweetly at the child. Hard to see... the girl was darn near impossible to see, Dilis would never have known someone was there had the girl not spoken to her. Something seemed wrong but she was not about to push... she was afraid what she might find out. But then again, she had a brilliant idea; she would ask this girl to help her find an inn for the night.

"My name is Dilis. What is your sweetheart? I am terribly lost and I thought perhaps you could help me. I was at the courts all day and now I have to find an inn for the night but it would seem that I cannot find my way. Might you know of a place I can sleep tonight?"

[Vyn]

Xylia attempted to smile, but failed quite spectacularly once more. All these changes had been hard to stomach at first and now, woe was her, she had more surprises! This small nightmare was not going to end any time soon, was it?! She tensed slightly but quickly forced her muscles to relax...only for the feline to take a tone with her.

It wasn't exactly like she were throwing about an attitude, or even being all too snooty, but her tone and her words remained condescending as if she were talking to a small child. Xylia could not tell if it was her recent loss of her title as Heart that made her so defensive but regardless the reason she knew she didn't like the way she was being spoken to. The J on the Avington's chest did not give her the right...

Quickly, however, Xylia forced herself to calm...to speak evenly despite her rising tide of emotions. The girl, Dilis she had called herself, was lost and apparently tired. The least Xylia could do was help. It was why she had approached anyway.

"My name is Xylia, pleased to meet you." She sighed softly, expelling the last of her tension. "I actually live not too far from here. It's just my half-brother and I, but there's a couch -or my bed, if you prefer- that you could sleep on until you're ready to head out."

[Kiki]

Oh dear, Dilis had made an error and she had realized rather quickly what she had done when the doe tensed like she did. She had not really meant to, it just kind of slipped out. She had a tendency to use pet names for people and sometimes it was not welcomed. She had called Hatter "love" once and he kind of spazzed out over it.

"Aw, I am terribly sorry; I did not mean to say child. I hope you did not take it in a bad way. I was just so pleased to find someone out this time of night. It is a pleasure to meet you Xylia as well. Oh my, that would be wonderful... the couch would be perfect, thank you Xylia! That is indeed very kind of you to offer. I just need to stay for the night and in the morning I can head back home to Avington" She smiled, now in a better mood. Tonight was turning out better than she thought.

[Vyn]

Xylia eased up the moment that apology was offered to her. She had truly hoped that Dilis had not purposefully meant to be rude, the lovely Avington just didn't seem the type. Perking her ears forward, the doe smiled sweetly and laughed weakly in embarrassment.

"Oh, it's very much alright! I fear I'm just a bit tense this last week or so." So much was different...so much. Not even discovering the true nature of Mephit's personality had been this rough on the poor doe. "If the couch is good then, please, follow me! My apartment isn't too far and, hopefully, we can slip in without waking Solo."

Solo was likely to play 20 Questions if they didn't manage to get in while he was asleep, but perhaps that would also be good. If he saw her socializing and acting like normal, or attempting to, he might stop giving her those looks. She was upset, nearly devastated, but she did not want anyone's pity!

Motioning for Dilis to follow her, the lovely but unusual doe turned back the way she came and began to lead Dilis back to the apartment.

[Kiki]

Dilis was glad she saw the tension fade away, she did not want to start off their meeting in a bad manner. She followed after Xylia as best she could, which seemed difficult as her form was a bit hazy to her. She wondered why that was... "Solo? Tell me about your brother" She asked of Xylia. She was curious about this person, it seemed she would be meeting him quite soon. "Why would we not want to wake him? Is he not a personable type or something?"

I hope father is not too worried, since becoming a Jack I have not had much time to spend with him. Perhaps it would be best if I sat down with him to have a chat today... She really had missed him, she did not have time for much at all since she joined the courts and it made her sad. Well I suppose this is the price I have to pay...

[Vyn]

Xylia was starting to feel just a little better. Her inner turmoil didn't fade a bit, but she could at least pretend to be happy and friendly for the sake of others'. Xylia always could.

"O! Nono! Solo's a great brother and a whole lot of fun too. I only thought that you were looking forward to sleeping and I hadn't wanted to keep you up. If you're up for some socializing, though, than Solo being up would be just great!"

Xylia loved all her siblings, but Solo was by far one of her favorites. If nothing else, he'd always been the most fun and energetic. She honestly couldn't thank Maxwell enough for arranging for her to meet up with him about rooming.

As Xylia walked ahead of Dilis she made sure her every footstep clicked in the shadowy night. That way, even if her form was swallowed up by the night something would still be recognizable to follow. Until, at last, they reached the apartments. Once they came within running distance to the door, Xylia cheerfully knocked once before pushing open the door and slid inside.

"Solo?" She called softly, trying to find her brother without actually making a loud fuss. "Are you still up?"

[Shinigami]

Solo was, in fact, awake when the two girls came into the apartment, and he looked up with his usual cheerful grin - no doubt inherited from his mother - to greet Xylia. He'd just been looking over a few maps, contemplating various courier routes he could take, and...alright, alright. He'd been staying up to make sure that his half-sister got back to the apartment safely, because he'd started out worrying about her due to the letter he'd gotten from Mom, and then there'd been the whole thing with the bracers (and what was wrong with being a Spade, anyway? Though he'd missed her green markings.), and she'd been going out almost every night nowadays. Solo was fairly sure that it was his brotherly (well, half-brotherly) duty to worry about her.

The big deer-cat pulled himself to his feet at the sight of the Avington that was accompanying Xylia, and the grin only grew as he approached, leg-rings flashing slightly. Part of him was fascinated about the fact that here was another cat with horns, though he had them due to the whole deer thing he'd gotten from Dad.

"Hello! The name's Solo, as I'm sure this brat has told you,"[/color] he said cheerfully, though Xylia didn't really deserve to be called a brat. She was sweet, and kind, and about the same age as him, but he felt that it was, again, his brotherly duty to tease her. He'd never gotten to do it to Cecilia that much, and Helen was...well. She never seemed to notice.